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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that although the flu jab isn't a live jab it can make you feel bloody poorly

100 replies

JustMyLuck84 · 20/09/2017 21:45

Flu jab on fri (12 weeks pregnant). All this week bunged up, achey, sore throat etc.
AIBU to think it's more than coincidence?!

OP posts:
silkybear · 21/09/2017 04:00

This anti vaxxer thing has got completely out of hand. Of course vaccines can give you some side effects, it won't be full blown flu but they can make you feel poorly especially if you are in the first trimester and your body is already going through alot. The whole point of it is to trigger an immune response in your body, so it can't be beyond possibility that it may make you feel a bit rough. Shooting people down 'because science' is so patronising, its ridiculous. Hope you feel better soon op Flowers

GoldilocksAndTheThreePears · 21/09/2017 04:12

I'm supposed to have the flu jab this year as I'm on a new medication that buggers my immune system but I'm dreading it. The one and only time I had it was at the request of my boss, years ago working as a nanny for a micro-premie baby so I took every precaution not to be ill. And ended up having almost 3 weeks off due to the side effects of the jab. Or maybe randomly getting flu at the same time, I don't know. Very ill, don't know if it was flu as I've never had it before or since so no comparison but even flu-like symptoms were enough to keep me well away from baby, just in case. I'm sure I'm very stupid, science says I can't have had symptoms etc etc but I was very ill and I'm dreading it this time.

Original poster
JustMyLuck84 · 21/09/2017 05:54

No, of course people shouldn't not get the vaccine, particularly if their immunity is in some way compromised. I have at no point said that. To all the posters saying "people are so stupid" etc you are the reason that this is my first post on mumsnet. Jesus, so fucking rude. Would you speak to people like that in real life?! I hope not for your sakes. Totally unnecessary and uncalled for. Yuck.

OP posts:
Cagliostro · 21/09/2017 06:15

I'm having it for the first time soon because I'm pregnant (32 weeks). I'm really nervous. NOT because I think it will give me flu, but because I have chronic illnesses that mean my immune response is a bit weird anyway and I always feel ill for longer after a cold etc. A cold is never 'just a cold' for me. So I'm scared that the side effects will be really awful. Which would be really shit timing since I may be induced in under 6 weeks! I will still have it, as it's not worth the risk to baby if I don't, but I'm considering trying to time it so DH has time off in case I get bad side effects.

silkybear · 21/09/2017 06:23

Don't let a few twatty posts put you off mumsnet Op. The advice on here is usually really brilliant especially for pregnancy stuff, but for some reason you mention the word vaccine and everyone loses their shit. People think following I fucking love science on facebook gives them a medical degree Grin

CloseToTheBone · 21/09/2017 06:27

Glad to read someone else has this. I have the jab every year (chest issues) and every year I get low-level flu symptoms in the following week. I'm guessing it's the body's response to something it deems a threat. The nurse at the practice insists this is impossible, but it happens every year. Funnily enough, last year I was symptom-free after the jab, but got proper flu later in the year for the first time in probably 10-12 years.

Saladd0dger · 21/09/2017 06:42

Every single time I have my flu jab I end up with full blown flu 2-3 times at winter. Don’t have the jab and I don’t get it? Yet it works wonderfully on DS who is constantly unwell in the colder months with no jab.

CloseToTheBone · 21/09/2017 06:43

To follow up (why isn't there an edit button?) - I am in no way an anti-vaxxer, and I don't believe the jab gives you the flu. I have one every year and will continue to do so. However, the GP practice's insistence that there are NO side-effects, and that I am imagining something that happens regularly every year, is frustrating.

eurochick · 21/09/2017 06:46

If you are getting the flu 2-3 times a winter there is something seriously wrong with you. More likely you are getting a cold.

I'm over 40. I don't think I have ever had the flu. I have had lots of colds, some of them quite nasty.

BaxterStockboy · 21/09/2017 06:51

I think that part of the problem is people claiming to have the flu when what they have is a bad cold.

Many times people have come into work, school or bumped into aquintances in the supermarket and they say 'I feel terrible, I've got the flu'. No, you have a cold. With the best will in the world if you had flu you would not be doing your weekly shop.

TulipsInAJug · 21/09/2017 22:54

I know the difference between a cold and a flu. I have colds, some of them bad, most winters.

I've only ever had proper flu (ie in bed for 2 weeks) once in my life and that was the one year I got the flu jab. Never again.

Bambamber · 21/09/2017 23:04

I get it done yearly. This year my GP warned me that it's more of an achy arm inducing jab rather than last year's headachy one, she was totally right! Some drs do acknowledge there are side effects, because of course there can be. Just the same as some people do have adverse reactions. However for many people, myself included, the benefits outweigh the risk

WhenSheWasBadSheWasHorrid · 21/09/2017 23:06

I think that part of the problem is people claiming to have the flu when what they have is a bad cold

This ^

Proper flu is horrible. I've had loads of stinking colds, a few lasted weeks. Had flu once, I was only 14 and I still remember it now.

Thanks for the reminder to book my flu jab

littlebillie · 22/09/2017 06:49

I had my jab last night and hopefully I'll be fine. Normally I am okay and my immune system isn't quite normal

littlebillie · 22/09/2017 06:50

This year it's a very very bad strain which was in Australia and NZ so I would get it anyway

Supermagicsmile · 28/09/2017 21:15

Anyone opted not to? I am supposed to but not sure now after seeing my colleague at work Blush

Roomster101 · 28/09/2017 21:24

I normally have the flu jab each year and occasionally but not always it makes me feel quite rough for a few hours. It's much better than flu though.

Roomster101 · 28/09/2017 21:26

Every single time I have my flu jab I end up with full blown flu 2-3 times at winter. Don’t have the jab and I don’t get it?

Nobody gets full blown flu 2-3 times a year. You are getting colds which are obviously not prevented by the flu jab.

Tantpoke · 28/09/2017 21:30

If you get flu after having a flu jab its because you would have had flu regardless of the jab.

I used to get flu every year for years and it would last for weeks and be very debilitating for me.
Since I've been having my yearly flu jab I havent had it once but I do get a sore arm for 24 hours.

ghostyslovesheets · 28/09/2017 21:30

I have never had flu

flu is a serious illness

I have had many colds though that make me feel shit - but that's not the flu!

I have the jab every year due to being front line staff and also having CKD - still never had the flu!

CaptWentworth · 28/09/2017 21:34

I think people have possibly miss-diagnosed themselves with flu after having the vaccine. Hear it all the time.

mymorningbeautyroutine · 28/09/2017 21:38

But LEOSTAR, YOU're not blaming the flu has for making your dd ill for a year, are you? it's not a live vaccine! What has been wrong with her?

hannah1992 · 28/09/2017 21:41

My dd got external poorly after having it last year. The day after she had it she was snotty so went to school as normal. Got a phone call from them later asking to go pick her up because she had thrown up everywhere and was now asleep. And that's how she stayed for a week. Vomiting, chesty, stuffed up, sore throats, could barely breath properly. Doctors said it was possible it could have been that.

My dads the same always comes down very ill after having it.

TiesThatBindMe · 28/09/2017 21:45

Had it for the first time last year and ended up in a coma with pneumonia January this year. I will not be getting it again.

ThanksForAllTheFish · 28/09/2017 21:46

I posted on the other thread that's evening going re: flu vaccine nasal spray.

My DD has had the flu spray the past 3 years now. Every single time she has came down with flu like symptoms (starting 2/3 days later) and been ill for weeks afterwards, first week too ill to get out of bed. (Fever / aches/ pains / chills/ snotty nose/ no appetite).

I've been told it's been a coincidence every time. Once maybe, twice perhaps but 3 times I think not. She isn't getting the vaccine this year as it obviously doesn't agree with her.